Text Diary vs Journalous
Price, ratings, monetisation and update history for both apps, side by side — with what reviewers say about each.
Text Diary
A free and simple text-based journaling app that allows unlimited entries. Organize your thoughts with folders, colors, and tags, and easily search or filter your past entries. Enjoy a comfortable user experience with quick startup and dark mode.
- Unlimited daily diary entries
- Organize by folder, color, tag
- Searchable diary entries
- Filter by date or tag
- Quick startup and comfortable operation
- Dark mode support
- Completely free to use
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It's a simple text diary app. All features are completely free to use. Features: - Unlimited daily diary - Classified by folder, color, tag - Search diary - Filter by date or tag - Quick start-up, comfortable operability - Dark mode - All free URL scheme: textdiary://
Journalous
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Journalous is a journal without the social part. A private place to write about your day. No feeds, no followers, no likes, nothing recommending you anything. Your words are encrypted and only you can read them. Journaling drifted onto social media at some point. Journalous pulls it back. It keeps what makes daily writing easy (a clean page, a routine, a streak you don't want to break) and drops the audience. Write every day The editor stays out of the way. Bold, italics, headings, lists, and quotes are there if you want them, but you can also just start typing. Entries save themselves as you go. Private by default Every entry is encrypted with AES-256. Each account gets its own key, stored in a vault separate from the database, so entries are protected the moment they're saved. Your email is stored only as a one-way hash. No ads, no feed, and your journal is never sold or used to train AI. More than words Attach photos to any day. Add quick notes, a quote, a passing idea, alongside your main entry when you don't feel like writing a full paragraph. Look back Browse a clean timeline, jump to any day on the calendar, or search everything you've written. Statistics show your current streak, total words, days journaled, and your longest run so far. Share on purpose Nothing is public unless you make it public. Generate a link for a single entry and that's all anyone sees. Keep your data Export the whole journal any time as plain, readable JSON. Back it up, move it, build something with it. No lock-in. Works everywhere Journalous is on your phone, your tablet, and in any browser, and it keeps working even when you're offline — your entries sync automatically once you're back online. Free to start The basics are free. Paid plans add unlimited journals, more sharing, and collaborative journals are coming soon. If you've been wanting somewhere to write that isn't performing for anyone, this is it. Start writing today. Terms of Use (EULA): https://www.journalo.us/terms Privacy Policy: https://www.journalo.us/privacy
Screenshots
Verdict
The clearest difference is in-app purchases: Text Diary at none against Journalous's 2. Journalous's advantage is ads (none vs shown) and update cadence (every 5 days vs every 2 months). On price and device support there is nothing between them.
Scored on Price · Rating · Positive reviews · Number of ratings · Update frequency · Ads · In-app purchases · Monetization · Best chart rank · Devices · Requires iOS
Both are free to download. Journalous sells 2 in-app purchases, starting at $14.99 per year. Text Diary asks for nothing beyond the download.
Text Diary ships an update every 2 months, Journalous every 5 days. The most recent releases landed on October 24, 2026 and October 31, 2026 respectively.
| Parameter | Text Diary | Journalous |
|---|---|---|
| Price | Free | Free |
| Rating | 4.6 (7 ratings) — better | — |
| Number of ratings | 7 — better | — |
| Update frequency | Every 2 months | Every 5 days — better |
| Ads | Yes | No — better |
| In-app purchases | No — better | Yes |
| Monetization | Ad-supported | — |
| Devices | iPhone, iPad | iPhone, iPad |
| Requires iOS | 26.0 | 16.0 — better |
| Further details — not scored | ||
| Size | 10 MB | 38 MB |
| Age rating | 4+ | 4+ |
| Developer | FugaPiyo Inc. | Retrosquare LLC |
In-app purchases
Text Diary
No in-app purchases
Journalous
- Journalous Plus - Extended Plan$14.991 Year
- Journalous Plus - Ultimate Plan$39.991 Year









